Sunday, June 2, 2024
ADVT 
India

Poor Muslims In Agra Who Converted Will Be Given Ration Cards: Bajrang Dal

IANS, 09 Dec, 2014 12:40 PM
    A Bajrang Dal leader said Tuesday that all the 300 poor Muslims who he said had embraced Hinduism here will be given ration cards they badly lacked.
     
    Amid claims by one of the 300 that they were forced to give up Islam, Bajrang Dal's Ajju Chauhan said everyone in the group would be now taught Hindu rituals.
     
    The Bajrang Dal organised the conversion ceremony Monday.
     
    Chauhan, the group's co-convener, said Tuesday that all those who converted to Hinduism would be "Sanskritised". They would be registered as voters and would get ration cards. 
     
    He said the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), to which the Bajrang Dal is allied, had been working "hard for three months to persuade them to convert to Hinduism". 
     
    The 300 members of some 60 Muslim families who reportedly embraced Hinduism Monday evening live in a slum on the outskirts of the Taj city -- and are miserably poor.
     
    Most of them had lived near Madhu Nagar on Gwalior Road for 17 long years after migrating either from West Bengal or Bangladesh. 
     
    Agra's Muslim leaders mostly declined to comment on the episode.
     
    But one Muslim scholar who did not want to be quoted by name alleged that those who converted were not Muslims.
     
    "It is true that they are all from outside Agra, perhaps from Bangladesh, and had been living here illegally as they have no voter, Adhaar or ration cards," he said.
     
    Munira, one of the 300, alleged they were lured to the event on the promise of giving them a plot of land and ration cards.
     
    "We were taken to a place where a fire ceremony was on," Munira told ABP news channel. "We were made to sit there. We became panicky. We were told to pray to Hindu gods. We did whatever they told us...
     
    "But now we are again reading the Holy Quran and our family members offered namaz today," he added.
     
    Agra's Senior Superintendent of Police Shalabh Mathur said no complaint had been registered regarding the event. "We will take action if there is a complaint."
     
    A Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, Premendra Jain, wondered if Bangladeshis could be allowed to live in India if they give up Islam.
     
    "We have been demanding the expulsion of all Bangladeshis living illegally in India," Jain told IANS. 
     
    "Now these people have been converted to Hinduism. Does it mean all those staying in India illegally will be allowed to stay here if they convert?"

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Uber Rape Victim Screamed For 30 Minutes, But No Police Came

    Uber Rape Victim Screamed For 30 Minutes, But No Police Came
    She was slapped, threatened and sexually assaulted for 30 minutes inside a car parked on a secluded bridge here. But the cries of the 25-year-old working woman who was raped fell on deaf ears, as no one, including the patrolling police, came for help.

    Uber Rape Victim Screamed For 30 Minutes, But No Police Came

    Got Naan? Roger Federer Gets Taste Of India With Naan, Curry

    Got Naan? Roger Federer Gets Taste Of India With Naan, Curry
    "Got naan," Federer tweeted Monday morning along with a photograph in which he's all smiles holding a crisp naan, a flat bread made of white flour and baked in a tandoor.

    Got Naan? Roger Federer Gets Taste Of India With Naan, Curry

    Make Gita National Scripture, Says Sushma Swaraj; Opposition Hits Out

    Make Gita National Scripture, Says Sushma Swaraj; Opposition Hits Out
    External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Sunday applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gesture of presenting the Bhagavad Gita to world leaders, saying it elevated the holy book to the status of a national scripture.

    Make Gita National Scripture, Says Sushma Swaraj; Opposition Hits Out

    Oldest serving CM Badal goes to school on his birthday

    Oldest serving CM Badal goes to school on his birthday
    At 87, he is the oldest serving chief minister in the country. But even at this age, the 'young-at-heart' Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh....

    Oldest serving CM Badal goes to school on his birthday

    Punjab eye camp tragedy: Mathura NGO office-bearers missing

    Punjab eye camp tragedy: Mathura NGO office-bearers missing
    The office-bearers of a Mathura-based NGO which recently organised an eye-camp in Punjab where some patients later complained of losing eyesight....

    Punjab eye camp tragedy: Mathura NGO office-bearers missing

    Uber banned, 'rapist driver' sent to police custody

    Uber banned, 'rapist driver' sent to police custody
    Three days after one of its drivers raped a woman commuter, "all activities" of global cab company Uber were banned in Delhi Monday and the accused...

    Uber banned, 'rapist driver' sent to police custody

    PrevNext